A former federal judge and director at a pharmaceutical company has dropped his lawsuit accusing national plaintiffs’ law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro of failing to pay him his share of attorney fees from a lawsuit against drugmaker Wyeth.
Walter Nixon Jr, who served on the Southern District of Mississippi court from 1968 until his removal for alleged misconduct two decades later, said in a filing on Friday that he had resolved his claims.
A lawyer for Nixon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hagens Berman partner Tom Sobol, who was involved in the case against Wyeth, said the terms of the agreement with Nixon were confidential.
Nixon sued Seattle-founded Hagens Berman in November, claiming the firm never paid him his agreed-upon share of a $13 million legal fee award stemming from a settlement with Wyeth. He was seeking at least $1 million in damages.
Nixon alleged that Hagens Berman and another firm hired him in 2010 to help them pursue a lawsuit accusing Wyeth of fixing prices for its antidepressant Effexor XR.
Nixon was then a director at Biloxi-based Professional Drug, which became the named plaintiff in the Wyeth case. Professional Drug, founded in 1958, bought drugs from manufacturers and resold them at wholesale prices.
Wyeth, now a Pfizer subsidiary, denied the claims but agreed to settle the case for $39 million in April.
Professional Drug voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against Wyeth in 2020 without providing a reason.
Nixon, a 1951 graduate of Tulane Law School, spent years working as a lawyer in Biloxi, including as an attorney for Professional Drug.
The case is Walter L. Nixon v. Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, No. 1:24-cv-00363-TBM-RPM.
For plaintiff: Christopher Van Cleave of Van Cleave Law
For defendants: No appearance made
